CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY THE LUKE E. HART SERIES How Catholics Live Section 4: Virtues and Vices To Luke E. Hart, exemplary evangelizer and Supreme Knight from 1953-64, the Knights of Columbus dedicates this Series with affection and gratitude. The Knights of Columbus presents The Luke E. Hart Series Basic Elements of the Catholic Faith VIRTUES AND VICES PART THREE• SECTION FOUR OF CATHOLIC CHRISTIANITY What does a Catholic believe? How does a Catholic worship? How does a Catholic live? Based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church by Peter Kreeft General Editor Father John A. Farren, O.P. Catholic Information Service Knights of Columbus Supreme Council Nihil obstat: Reverend Alfred McBride, O.Praem. Imprimatur: Bernard Cardinal Law December 19, 2000 The Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur are official declarations that a book or pamphlet is free of doctrinal or moral error. No implication is contained therein that those who have granted the Nihil Obstat and Imprimatur agree with the contents, opinions or statements expressed. Copyright © 2001-2021 by Knights of Columbus Supreme Council All rights reserved. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church for the United States of America copyright ©1994, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. English translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Modifications from the Editio Typica copyright © 1997, United States Catholic Conference, Inc. – Libreria Editrice Vaticana. Scripture quotations contained herein are adapted from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, 1971, and the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America, and are used by permission. All rights reserved. Excerpts from the Code of Canon Law, Latin/English edition, are used with permission, copyright © 1983 Canon Law Society of America, Washington, D.C. Citations of official Church documents from Neuner, Josef, SJ, and Dupuis, Jacques, SJ, eds., The Christian Faith: Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church, 5th ed. (New York: Alba House, 1992). Used with permission. Excerpts from Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, New Revised Edition edited by Austin Flannery, OP, copyright © 1992, Costello Publishing Company, Inc., Northport, NY, are used by permission of the publisher, all rights reserved. No part of these excerpts may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means – electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without express permission of Costello Publishing Company. Cover: Giotto di Bondone (1266-1336) The Last Judgement. Location: Scrovegni Chapel, Padua, Italy. Photo Credit: Cameraphoto/Art Resource, NY. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Write: Catholic Information Service Knights of Columbus Supreme Council PO Box 1971 New Haven CT 06521-1971 www.kofc.org/cis [email protected] 203-752-4267 800-735-4605 Fax Printed in the United States of America A WORD ABOUT THIS SERIES This booklet is one of a series of 30 that offer a colloquial expression of major elements of the Catechism of the Catholic Church. Pope John Paul II, under whose authority the Catechism was first released in 1992, urged such versions so that each people and each culture can appropriate its content as its own. The booklets are not a substitute for the Catechism, but are offered only to make its contents more accessible. The series is at times poetic, colloquial, playful, and imaginative; at all times it strives to be faithful to the Faith. The Catholic Information Service recommends reading at least one Hart series booklet each month to gain a deeper, more mature understanding of the Faith. -iii- -iv- PART III: HOW CATHOLICS LIVE (MORALITY) SECTION 4: VIRTUES AND VICES (This booklet, which is Part III, Section 4 of our course on Catholic Christianity, together with the preceding booklet, Some Fundamental Principles of Catholic Morality (Part III, Section 3), explains some basic principles of “natural law” morality, as defined in Human Nature as the Basis for Morality (Part III, Section 2). Part III, Sections 5-10 will focus on the “divine law,” that is, the Ten Commandments.) 1. The meaning of virtue “Virtue” is a very simple concept to define. As vice is a bad habit, so virtue is a good habit. “A virtue is an habitual and firm disposition to do the good” (CCC 1803). Virtues and vices form a person’s “character.” 2. The importance of virtue a) Without personal virtue, we will do good only sporadically. The main source of a good and happy life – for the human race, for each nation and community, and for each family – is the personal virtue of each individual. No system or set of laws, however perfect, can work for good without virtuous individuals. A Chinese parable says: “When the -5- wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way.” Bad bricks, however well arranged, don’t make a good building. Nothing can improve the world the way a saint does. b) Virtues – unless we lose them! – last forever. They are cultivated by each external good action, and underlie the habitual quality of virtuous actions. c) Virtues improve not just what you do but what you are. And every lover knows that the object of love is not just deeds but persons. Your boss may care more about what you do (your work) than about what you are (your character), but the opposite is true for those who love you. And God is not our boss, but our loving Father. 3. The goal of virtue “Why should I be good?” The question is simple and profound, and requires a simple and profound answer. Personal virtue is the key to improving the world, finding happiness, and helping other people to be good and happy too; yet the ultimate end of virtue is even greater than these great goals: “‘the goal of a virtuous life is to become like God’63” (CCC 1803). No secular answer to the question of the goal of virtue can rival this one. 4. The four cardinal virtues From ancient times (Plato, Aristotle) and in various cultures four virtues have traditionally been recognized as the indispensable foundation of all the others, as the “hinges” (cardines in Latin, thus “cardinal”) on which all others turn. “Four virtues play a pivotal role and accordingly are called ‘cardinal’; all the others are grouped around them. They are: prudence [or wisdom], justice [or fairness], fortitude [or courage], and temperance [or self-control]” (CCC 1805). They are mentioned in Scripture by name (Wisdom 8:7) and -6- “are praised under other names in many passages of Scripture” (CCC 1805). 5. Prudence Prudence “is not to be confused with timidity or fear” (CCC 1806). Perhaps “practical moral wisdom” is a clearer term for this virtue today. Prudence is “the virtue that disposes practical reason [the mind thinking about what should be done] to discover our true good in every circumstance and to choose the right means of achieving it…. With the help of this virtue we apply moral principles to particular cases…” (CCC 1806). 6. Justice “Justice is the moral virtue that consists in the constant and firm will to give their due to God and neighbor. Justice toward God is called the ‘virtue of religion’ [or ‘piety’]. Justice toward men disposes one to respect the rights of each and to establish in human relationships…harmony…” (CCC 1807). Justice gives to each “what is due,” or “what is right,” or “just desserts.” This logical and almost mathematical aspect of justice, focusing on equality and rights for individuals, is balanced and complemented by a more intuitive and holistic aspect which aims at harmony and right relationships. Typically, men are especially sensitive to the first aspect, and women to the second. Complete justice requires both. Justice transforms power and is transformed by love. Power is meant to serve justice – might should serve right – and justice is meant to serve love. We are born first knowing power and weakness, like the animals. As children, we learn a sense of justice from our conscience and from parents and teachers. As adults, we realize that justice, though necessary, is not sufficient; that our only hope is love and mercy and forgiveness – from God and from each other. -7- Wars will not cease and peace will not come, to nations or to families or to individuals, without justice. But neither will lasting peace come through justice alone. 7. Fortitude “Fortitude is the moral virtue that ensures firmness in difficulties and constancy in the pursuit of the good. It strengthens the resolve to resist temptations and to overcome obstacles in the moral life. The virtue of fortitude enables one to conquer fear, even fear of death, and to face trials and persecutions. It disposes one even to renounce and sacrifice his life in defense of a just cause” (CCC 1808). Of all the virtues this is perhaps the one most conspicuously lacking in the lives of most people today in technologically developed and relatively pain-free modern societies. Alexander Solzhenitsyn in 1978 dedicated his Harvard Commencement Address to this challenging subject. Fortitude is a necessary ingredient in all virtues, for no virtue “just happens,” but must be fought for. 8. Temperance “Temperance is the moral virtue that moderates the attraction of pleasures…” (CCC 1809), as fortitude moderates the fear of pains. (Thus it is also called “moderation.”) Without it we do not rise above the level of animals who live by their instincts, desires, and fears, especially the instinct to seek pleasure and flee pain.